Unity Online Radio

There are Christmas tales that are told repeatedly, whether conveyed by song, film, or the printed page. They’ve become part of the lexicon we use to express what Christmas means to us.

While on the surface there are obvious differences between the cultural and spiritual expressions of Christmas, their messages really are the same. The stories we tell today are ones that have stood the test of time, and the mixing and evolution of cultures. Traditions born from long, cold nights are today celebrated in the southern hemisphere where it’s summer in December, on tropical islands, and in non-Christian countries.

According to Rev. Temple Hayes, CEO and senior minister of First Unity Campus in St. Petersburg, Florida, when we were children, the world we saw was the size of the world we lived in. For Hayes, who grew up in a strict Southern Baptist community in a small town in South Carolina, that world was one where “everyone thought the same and never asked questions about anything in their lives, including about God.” Nevertheless, she says, she always felt called to make a difference in the lives of others.